Rosen: ‘The Spectre of James Rosen Hung Over’ the House Intel Hearing Today

‘Trey Gowdy of South Carolina posed a series of questions to the FBI director about whether reporters should enjoy an exemption from the laws that make it a felony to disseminate classified information’

ROSEN: "Congressman Trey Gowdy of South Carolina posed a series of questions to the FBI director about whether reporters should enjoy an exemption from the laws that make it a felony to disseminate classified information. I felt at that moment without resort to concede, I think, that the specter of James Rosen kind of hung over the hearing room. But beyond that, what we saw on display today, Bill, was the difficulty that lawmakers have in holding James Comey to a coherent, consistent standard in terms of what he discloses about the FBI’s investigations and when. In part, this stemmed from the fact that lawmakers are at a big disadvantage in terms of who holds the information. But in part it's because Director Comey seems at times to make up Comey's rules as Comey goes along."